FoxNews claims Apple knowledge: January 26 media event is for all things mobile

Apple confirmed a “big” media event on January 26 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, “sources inside Apple” told Clayton Morris of FoxNews, adding that the presentation will be focused on “mobility space.” The wording indicates a possible tablet launch, but also doesn’t rule out iPhone and iPod touch news. Morris wrote the following in his exclusive report:

While nothing official has been handed down from the notoriously tight-lipped company, my source took the Financial Times report one step further by saying this event will focus on the mobility space, meaning we’ll see something related to the iPhone/Touch product line.

It appears Apple has grown fond of the San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the venue where the company announced seasonal iPod lineup updates a couple of times in the past. Apple has been reportedly asking a privy group of developers to tweak their apps for a larger screen to help stage a tablet demo. Latest tidbits suggest that the gadget is in manufacturing. Apple has been recently linked to the “iSlate” and “Magic Slate” trademarks and suspected to be developing a possible mapping service dubbed iGuide (another Apple trademark).

Christian’s Opinion

Now we’re talking. I’ve taken the Financial Times report that Apple has scheduled a January 26 media event with a healthy dose of skepticism considering that no other high-profile publication corroborated it. FoxNews has just added a much-needed credence to that story. I think there’s little doubt at this point that an Apple event is happening January 26. History teaches us that when big media throws its credibility behind rumors, that’s when they become reality.

Apple tablet mockup credit: Gizmodo/Thomas Palmer

A rare few have direct access to the Cupertino firm like FoxNews and the Financial Times. Rest assured, credible newspapers haven’t published years-long Apple tablet rumors by chance. We’re all a part of a carefully orchestrated choreography. Apple’s buzz machine is “leaking” tablet information to big media in order to hype a non-existent product ahead of its launch.

The “mobility space” focus mentioned in the report has the word “tablet” written all over it. Chances of seeing a new iPhone are slim – Apple sticks to summer iPhone updates. On the other hand, who knows – maybe the Droid and upcoming Nexus One forced Apple to rush the next iPhone ahead of schedule. If you ask me, we’re probably in for a camera-updated iPod touch lineup and a new 128GB iPod touch model, possibly some phone reshuffling (iPhone 3G phased out, replaced by the $99 8GB iPhone 3GS), perhaps a minor iPhone OS update accompanied by a major iPhone OS 4.0 announcement (due in summer 2010), all rounded up nicely with the tablet.